First in a series of articles designed to educate parents
on the ins and outs of the physical therapy process and decrease parental anxiety, some of which results from a
fear of the unknown and/or frustration about not knowing what physical
therapy is all about.

A big difference between the forward range of motion of the throwing and non-throwing shoulder increases injury risk. Here is a simple test to identify such difference and a stretching exercise to keep the shoulder balanced.

A very common, but often overlooked problem with lower leg injuries is that a secondary injury can occur, such as posterior tibialis tendonitis, a painful inflammation and injury along the lower inside part of the leg, ankle, and arch of the foot.

Tears to the medial meniscus require surgical repair, but the repaired meniscus can easily be torn with only small amounts of pressure, so allowing it to fully heal after surgery before walking is critical for a full recovery.

As is true in most sports these days, softball pitchers are training - or over-training - more than ever, and more and more are playing the sports all year long without a break. Softball teams may carry only a couple of pitchers, which sometimes results in a pitcher throwing over 1,000 pitches during a weekend tournament! While there hasn't been an epidemic of rotator cuff injuries, other problems to the shoulder and elbow have surfaced with increased play.

As with ACL injuries, female athletes are more prone than their male counterparts to small, hairline fractures of the lower (lumbar) spine, usually from overtraining (e.g. overuse injuries) or improper loading of the spine. Because such injuries can be misdiagnosed, it is important for coaches and parents to recognize the symptoms and seek appropriate medical treatment.

Youth baseball programs - Little League in particular - have put new limits in place in recent years to reduce the number of pitches thrown per game, week, and for what team, prompting, indeed requiring, parents and coaches to get out "the clicker" to count pitches. With pitch limits in place, the attention seems to have turned to another important element in the pitching injury equation: the type of pitches being thrown.